Changing Cubs’ free-swinging ways won’t come overnight
Since the starting pitching was pretty forgettable Tuesday night in the Cubs’ 7-4 Milwaukee Brewers, let’s talk hitting.
As most Cubs fans know, patience at the plate has not been a virtue for this organization. The lone exception was 2008, when the Cubs led the National League in walks, on-base percentage and runs scored.
Not so coincidentally, the Cubs led the NL in victories that year.
The Cubs went back to their free-swinging ways after that. The new management team, led by baseball President Theo Epstein, favors hitters taking walks and working deep counts.
Change won’t come overnight.
There are still aggressive hitters on the roster, and it will take time for Epstein and Co. to bring in their type of guys. Until then, they’ll live with what they’ve got.
“We have that kind of team,” manager Dale Sveum said after Monday night’s 7-5 loss to the Brewers, a game in which the Cubs drew 4 walks. “We have those kind of hitters. We probably need to be a little more patient, but that’s what we have.
“It’s one of the more difficult things to change, to talk about. Some guys just aren’t comfortable taking pitches, and they get behind in counts. It’s something we’ve got to get better at, obviously, to get pitchers to throw more pitches.”
Sveum is a hitting coach by trade, and he expanded on the topic before Tuesday night’s game. I asked him if it was just best to leave veteran hitters alone.
“A lot of times when you’re aggressive early in the count, you have two anxieties,” Sveum began. “One, you don’t like hitting with two strikes. Two, you really think in your mind that’s going to be the best pitch of the at-bat. Guys that take it for a strike, it kind of ruins the at-bat sometimes for them because it’s like, ‘Oh, God, I just took the best pitch of the at-bat.’ Then they kind of get flustered the rest of the at-bat.”
As far as the forgettable pitching goes, Tuesday’s was an outing Paul Maholm definitely would like to forget. Making his Cubs debut, Maholm threw 41 pitches in a torturous first inning, when the Brewers scored 5 runs and sent 10 men to the plate.
Alex Gonzalez hit a 3-run homer during an inning when Maholm walked two batters and hit two. Maholm was done after 4 innings as he gave up 6 hits and 6 runs.
“Put it blunt, I (stunk),” he said. “It was a bad inning. I didn’t throw like I normally threw. To put the team down 5-0, to even go in the dugout, not what you want to do. That kind of summed it up.”
The Cubs got back into the game in the third, after the Brewers had taken a 6-0 lead in the top half. Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run single, and Jeff Baker had a sacrifice fly. The Cubs hung around awhile, but eventually lost and fell to 1-4 with a pair of day games remaining in this series.
And then it’s on to St. Louis.
bmiles@dailyherald.com